Internal Speakers Not Found - 2012 MBP

[zackkmac]

Hi all. I know this isn't a Core Duo or C2D machine, but it is from the "earlier" side of Intel Macs...I did try posting in the general MBP forum with no responses. Hoping for better luck here.

I have a 2012 13" MBP (non-retina) that I was going to gift to a friend but realized it does not have working internal speaker output when running macOS. There IS a boot chime, and when running Windows 10 the audio works perfectly fine, but macOS does not seem to recognize them, defaulting instead to Digital Audio Out. This is even with a completely fresh install of Catalina, and I tried Mojave as well.

I am aware of the notorious headphone jack issue, but mine does not have a red light, and it switches to/from headphones just fine when trying those out. I have cleaned the port just in case (and spent forever inserting/removing headphones), but with no results. Just wondering if anyone else has any thoughts or ideas before I chalk this up to a logic board issue. If that's the case, they're about $80 on eBay, not sure if I will make more $$ from replacing that versus selling it as-is. It's otherwise a solid little machine with 2 SSDs and 16GB of RAM. Just wish I could get the audio to work.

Any thoughts/ideas are much appreciated. I did snag a 2015 rMBP 15" for a great deal so I'll be gifting that instead. Just want to get this one working if possible to get the most money out of it when I sell it.

 

[eyoungren]

Hi all. I know this isn't a Core Duo or C2D machine, but it is from the "earlier" side of Intel Macs...I did try posting in the general MBP forum with no responses. Hoping for better luck here.

I have a 2012 13" MBP (non-retina) that I was going to gift to a friend but realized it does not have working internal speaker output when running macOS. There IS a boot chime, and when running Windows 10 the audio works perfectly fine, but macOS does not seem to recognize them, defaulting instead to Digital Audio Out. This is even with a completely fresh install of Catalina, and I tried Mojave as well.

I am aware of the notorious headphone jack issue, but mine does not have a red light, and it switches to/from headphones just fine when trying those out. I have cleaned the port just in case (and spent forever inserting/removing headphones), but with no results. Just wondering if anyone else has any thoughts or ideas before I chalk this up to a logic board issue. If that's the case, they're about $80 on eBay, not sure if I will make more $$ from replacing that versus selling it as-is. It's otherwise a solid little machine with 2 SSDs and 16GB of RAM. Just wish I could get the audio to work.

Any thoughts/ideas are much appreciated. I did snag a 2015 rMBP 15" for a great deal so I'll be gifting that instead. Just want to get this one working if possible to get the most money out of it when I sell it.

What happens if you start fresh?

In other words, wipe the drive and then install Lion. If audio returns than maybe update from there.

 

[zackkmac]

What happens if you start fresh?

In other words, wipe the drive and then install Lion. If audio returns than maybe update from there.

Good idea. I could definitely try starting as early as possible and working my way up. I'll update on that hopefully later today.

(slightly jealous of your MBA score btw ?)

 

[MBAir2010]

mute
unmute
(in system preferences)

i need to do this alot in 2011-2015 and still sometimes this year.

 

[eyoungren]

(slightly jealous of your MBA score btw ?)

Welllll…I don't actually get to use the Mac. It's my wife's so I'm a bit jealous too.

 

[zackkmac]

Same issue on a fresh install of 10.7.5. ?

 

[throAU]

Maybe try a SMC/PRAM reset. Could be something a bit wigged out in there.

The fact you get a boot chime means the speakers are physically connected and working.

If that fails, as above I'd try an OS reinstall.

 

[zackkmac]

Maybe try a SMC/PRAM reset. Could be something a bit wigged out in there.

The fact you get a boot chime means the speakers are physically connected and working.

If that fails, as above I'd try an OS reinstall.

Thank you. I forgot to mention I have done several SMC and PRAM resets, and have now done 3 separate OS installs. This is pretty baffling because as you said, they ARE working, at boot and in Windows...just not in macOS.